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Biographical note of Gérard Bouchard, Ph.D.

Co-Chair, Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences

Historian and sociologist Gérard Bouchard is a lecturer in the Département des sciences humaines at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Dynamics of Collective Imaginary. Professor Bouchard obtained a master’s degree in sociology from Université Laval (1968) and a doctorate in history from the Université de Paris (1971).

His research covers social, demographic and cultural history and human genetics. Through the creation of the BALSAC register, he initiated an array of research programs in sociology, demographics, ethnology and human genetics (population genetics and genetic epidemiology). The collaboration stemming from his research led to the establishment in 1972 of the Institut interuniversitaire de recherches sur les populations (IREP), which Professor Bouchard headed until 1998. His current research focuses on the collective imaginary. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Professor Bouchard is the author and co-author of 250 scientific articles and over 30 books, including La construction d'une culture (1993), La nation québécoise au futur et au passé (1999), Dialogue sur les pays neufs (1999), Genèse des nations et cultures du nouveau monde : Essai d’histoire comparée (2000), Les deux chanoines (2003) and La culture québécoise est-elle en crise? (2007). He has also published two novels, Mistouk (2002) and Pikauba (2005).

Dr. Bouchard is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Prix Léon-Gérin awarded by the Québec government (1993) and the 2000 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. He is a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec and the Royal Society of Canada. He is also the recipient of the Chevalier medal of the Légion d’honneur de France.